Jannik Sinner finally won a match in straight sets at the 2024 Halle Open, downing Zhizhen Zhang in two sets to book the final against Hubert Hurkacz.
Sinner and Hurkacz know each other very well, having played together in doubles both in the past and at the ATP 500 tournament in Halle only days ago. Hurkacz did extremely well to take out the second-seeded Alexander Zverev and secure the final, and the Italian followed him.
The Italian faced Zhang and finally won a match in straight sets. All of his matches so far this week have gone the distance. It’s not ideal, but it gave the Italian plenty of time to get used to the grass, which helped in this match.
The match was close, as the Chinese player has been playing on a really solid level this week. He held his serve comfortably in the early minutes of the match, and it wasn’t until 4-4 that he really ran into any kind of trouble.
In that game, Sinner applied pressure and ultimately got the break to take a 5-4 lead. He then held his serve to close out the opening set, winning it 6-4 and gaining an early advantage in the match.
Neither player allowed anything on the first serve, but both struggled a bit on the second. Zhang struggled more and lost the set. The second set was very similar in that regard.
Both dominated on the first serve while not doing so well on the second. Under those circumstances, the set obviously ended up in a tie-break, as neither of the players faced many issues.
Sinner actually faced the only break point in the second set, and it was a set point for Zhang, but the top seed saved it. In the tie-break, it was Sinner who remained calmer, taking an early lead and then holding onto it to win the match 6-4, 7-6(3).
